My dh has always had trouble with his legs twitching while he sleeps but now he is almost unable to sleep because his whole body will "jump" every few minutes. This has been going on for at least a week. He will end up staying up until 4 or 5 am because he can't sleep until he is completely exhausted and he will sleep through the jumping. As you can imagine, a total of 2-3 hours of sleep night after night and full days of work in between are making him irritable and, to be honest, hard to live with. He has stopped all forms of caffeine and nothing else, like medication or stress levels, have changed. Do you have any ideas what could be causing this and what we can do about it? We would both appreciate your input.

By Trina~moderator on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 04:22 pm:

I have no idea, but sounds like a visit to the pediatrician is in order. {{{HUGS}}} Please let us know how things turn up. Poor kiddo!

By Trina~moderator on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 04:23 pm:

Oops, it's your DH not DS. Sorry. LOL! I still think a doctor visit is necessary. Definitely not normal.

By Irene on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 04:38 pm:

Have you looked at this web site:
www.rls.org

By Tink on Monday, November 8, 2004 - 11:35 pm:

Thanks for the link but not much is said about it affecting the rest of the body.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 12:52 am:

Could it be his stress level. When DH is over stressed he will jerk in his sleep, he also has nightmares. Can you get him in to see a doctor. I would rule out everything physical and he might just need something to take the edge off in the evenings so he can relax.

By Rayanne on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 06:58 am:

Here is another vote for the doctor!! Good luck.

By Feona on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 07:38 am:

Take him to the doctor. At least he can get a temporary ambian or something...

By Juli4 on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 07:55 am:

I tired to post this before but I guess the server was down or someithing. I also say go to the docotor. I had rls when I was pregnant. NOt as bad as your dh. To initially fall asleep sex helps because the physical release seems to relax the muscles enough to fall asleep. Anyways that is just my personal experience. Mine went away after the baby though.

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 09:13 am:

Juli, you're correct, the board was down due to server space issues. We apologize, it's been corrected.

There are medical conditions that cause RLS or whole body twitching, I'm not real familiar with them all. Sometimes it's a *mis-firing* of brain signals. I agree, a trip to the doc is in order, and insist they take you seriously!

By Tink on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 10:40 am:

Are you kidding? I can't get this man to go to the Dr. on a regular basis, much less when he is this irritable. I guess I'll have to try, though.

LOL, Juli. We had *adult time* last night and I think he slept much better! Unfortunately, I don't think every night is a possibility for either of us right now.

By Marcia on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 04:32 pm:

Is it only happening when he's sleeping? Is he aware that it's happening? Sounds like a sleep EEG might be a good idea.

By Tink on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 01:24 pm:

No, Marcia, it's happening later in the evening when he starts trying to wind down for the night and then happens all night long. I don't think it's a problem when he's in a deep sleep because it isn't waking me. I don't think I can get him in for any kind of sleep study. We did that for severe apnea about a year ago and he swore then he'd rather not sleep than do it again.

By Pamt on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 05:43 pm:

I'd love to know if you find out anything. My DH does this and he sleeps right through it, but it keeps ME awake *yawn*. It's not that whole body jerk thing you do when you sometimes are falling asleep and think you are falling---just the twitchy, jerky legs and occasionally his arms too. I'd love for him to have a sleep study for that AND his snoring, but I think I'll have a hard time convincing him.

By Theresa_Momma on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 06:40 pm:

I had them when I was pregnant, and one of my best friends has them now and has for years. Anyway try putting warm compress on them. Or what helped me and my friend the most is pressure. I wore support hose the last three months I was pregnant becuse the (worms) as I called them would keep me up all night. Sometimes I would have my dh lay on my leggs and that helped.

By Mrsneufeld on Friday, November 19, 2004 - 02:09 am:

My DH has "restless leg syndrome" and his dr gave him a prescription for carbidopa/levidopa (sp?) it's something people with Parkinson's take. Apparently this is not related to Parkinson's, but the medicine works well. Maybe ask your dr about it.

By Boxzgrl on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 01:31 pm:

Hey Cori, I was just doing my school work when I came upon an entry that made me think of this post. This is whats in my pharmacy tech study book:

" Insomnias are the most common sleep problem. 1/3 of the U.S. population complains about poor sleep, the inability to fall asleep, and/or maintaining sleep. Sometimes insomnia is associated with daytime sleepiness to make up for lack of nighttime sleep. It's also associated with restless leg syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by relentless, disagreeable, deep sensations in the calves while sitting or lying down. The irresistible urge to move the leg interferes with sleep. Counseling to suggest alterations in environment and daily activities are usually attempted before any drug therapy is used to induce sleep."
Then it goes on to name prescriptions used to treat insomnia.

Thats the gist of the information. Not sure if that helps or if that are what your DHs symptoms are but I thought i'd post it anyways.

By Tink on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 04:03 pm:

Thanks, Melissa. Actually, dh does have trouble with insomnia. He is really a night owl and he works from 1:30 to 10pm or 3:30 to midnight, which doesn't help matters. I'm not sure what "alterations in environment and daily activities" we can do. The whole issue of daytime sleepiness is so true for him and I've always known it was associated with the trouble he has sleeping at night. Until I can get him to a doctor about it, I think we'll just have to deal with all the ramifications of his insomnia. It is nice to know that all of these issues are stemming from one problem. He also has sleep apnea and a tendency to snore. How many more problems do you think he needs before he'll get to the Dr?